The famous conference of Loudun assembled on the 13th of February, 1616; but as the Prince de Condé presented no less than thirty-one articles for consideration, many of which required careful examination, it was mutually agreed that the truce should be prolonged until the decision of his Majesty might be formed. The position of the court was, moreover, rendered more difficult from the fact that several great nobles, who had not hitherto openly espoused the faction of the rebels, hastened to swell their ranks, not with the intention of caballing against the government, but simply to be included in the concessions to which it was evident that the council would be compelled in order to accomplish a peace. Among others the Duke de Vendôme, who had so recently solicited his pardon, and declared his intention of adhering to the royal cause, was conspicuous in the ranks of the enemy; together with the young Duke de Candale, the son of d'Epernon, who had embraced the reformed faith, the Duke de Piney-Luxembourg, and the dowager-Countess of Soissons, who withdrew from the court at Tours, and joined her son at Loudun. This example, contemptible as it was, proved contagious, and was followed by two of the greatest princesses of the blood, the dowagers of Condé and Longueville, to the extreme annoyance of the Queen-mother, who was aware of the extent of their influence, and quite alive to its probable consequences.